Package Pricing Gets You Higher Job Tickets

[Cameron1]

I'm a one truck operator because I have young children and I want to spend time with them. And I'm a one truck operator by choice and trust me if I chose to run more trucks again like I did a couple years ago I could. See so that's the difference I have a choice! Do You?

I guess it all depends on your net requirements. I have no problems with your business model

 

[Rex Tyus]

Typically you want to offer 3 packages.

Say.. Basic, Deep and Always Clean... But for me, the basic cleaning was not the type of cleaning that my company is about.. so I dropped it. Leaves them with two choices, the best carpet cleaning they've ever seen in their life, or the best carpet cleaning they've ever seen in their life every 6 months.

We have the two packages but experience has taught me that you DONT put a price per SF on the package sheet in your sales presenation folder. Sometimes you walk into homes that have not had their carpets cleaned in 5 years and have stains everywhere... theres no way I'm only charging .55 per SF on something like that.

Under normal circumstances we would charge .55 for our deep and .85 for our Always clean package. About 90% of our clients go with the Always clean package which gives us a average ticket price of around $800.00 with no questions asked.

AND NO, it's not just because I am in an upper end area, i get those prices with middle class as well.

If you would like to know how I get an average ticket of $800 and how to put together a Killer sales folder and sales bag and all the other stuff we do than let me know-

Damn! You should put together a marketing packing and sell it to broke dick carpet cleaners like me. You would make millions. You are the man. PLEASE give us details.


:roll:

 

[Hoody]

I've listened and spoke to Roger many times. He's full of energy, and if you want to get him excited; talk about allergen cleaning. The man can sell it like no other, its his little niche. Always a pleasure speaking with him.

?

A one truck operator and you say he's the man. I'm sure he is , but for god's sake........if he's so good then why one truck ?

17 YEARS.......ONE TRUCK.......HOLY SHEET.......HOW MUCH DOES IT TAKE TO RUN ONE TRUCK.

You're such a d-bag sometimes Steve. You're a JP lapdog, but atleast I can give you credit for picking the guru with the best sense of humor. Roger loves what he does, he makes money, and gets the family time he wants and deserves. That's why hes the man. Your measure of success is obviously a lot different than mine but to each their own.

 

[Cameron1]

[quote="Steven Hoodlebrink":vv7tz47l]I've listened and spoke to Roger many times. He's full of energy, and if you want to get him excited; talk about allergen cleaning. The man can sell it like no other, its his little niche. Always a pleasure speaking with him.

?

A one truck operator and you say he's the man. I'm sure he is , but for god's sake........if he's so good then why one truck ?

17 YEARS.......ONE TRUCK.......HOLY SHEET.......HOW MUCH DOES IT TAKE TO RUN ONE TRUCK.

You're such a d-bag sometimes Steve. You're a JP lapdog, but atleast I can give you credit for picking the guru with the best sense of humor. Roger loves what he does, he makes money, and gets the family time he wants and deserves. That's why hes the man. Your measure of success is obviously a lot different than mine but to each their own.[/quote:vv7tz47l]




I think those things are important to all of us Steven. Growth is a natural progression of a business, so you are either growing or shrinking.....there is no in between. That was the point I was trying to make. In other words, if growth is the mark of a successful business then logically speaking growth would be a byproduct of a successful business. Where is the growth after 17 years?


No dis respect meant to you or Roger I was just trying to find the the connection



By the way, are you still moving to Athens

 

[Hoody]

Nope, home boy just sort of stopped talking to me one day. It was weird. And Mikey will tell you he hasn't been on the board since then. I often wonder if it wasn't someone from here with a really sick sense of humor.

I understand your point. But I know Roger has went back and forth between being an O/O to multi truck to O/O again. Hell Millers went from having 10+ employees cleaning so many restaurant accounts, and theaters, down to just the owner again. Depends on what type of business you want to have and how much time you want in it. You know employees are a huge PITA.

 

[Bioman]

The growth after 17 years is knowledge and knowing who to go after that will pay a higher price and want quality work and make me a living that way working on my business instead of in my business all the time. See I choose not to deal with the employee personality conflicts that you do. I rather just deal with picky customers for 8 hours a day that willing to pay me alot of money to do quality work. That would want a carpet specialist (owner/opeator) instead of someones employees. Not saying your employeee are first class but they'll never give the same exact quality you will.
But getting back to the point of this thread that has nothing to with package pricing. When I had 3 trucks out there I still using packages and it worked well for me then, and it works well for me now. Anytime Steve you would like to talk to me visit the Greenhorn room between 8 & 9PM EST during the week. And you'll see after speaking with me how much knowledge I have after 17 years.

 

[Cameron1]

Your on point with every thing you say, and your are right about employees. We have lost three in last thirty days, and I am ready to go insane it seems. I will see you in the Greenroom.

 

[Ken Snow]

Whenever I have felt that employees were a pain in the ass I looked in the mirror and realized it was really me, either by making poor hire choices or by not managing them well.

Being an owner operaor vs a multi truck firm with lots of employees is not a matter of right or wrong, just personal preference and desire. Advise I'd give to someone who always intends to be an OO is to make sure you have very high disability insurance in case you are injured (permantly or even just for a few months). Also make enough money that you can invest in ways to give you whatever a comfortable retirement looks like for you, as the business is not likely to sell for more than the depreciated value of the hard assets.

Ken

 

[Brian R]

Well said Mr. Ken.

When I got injured I had no insurance whatsoever.
I was glad I had friends in the med industry to help me out and ultimately they got paid out of the settlement.

Another thing I had was friends in OUR industry that helped me get my work done so I didn't lose 100%.
People helping people is what it's all about.

If one of my guys got hurt I would jump back on a truck, if I had to and let him take the phones maybe...or maybe do some estimates if he was not bad off.

 

[Ken Snow]

That's great you had people to help you out Brian and I agree it is all about that.

Ken

 

[tmdry]

Roger I'll be in south st either Tues night or sat/sun not sure yet.

Steve - D-Bag, gonna start using that. :mrgreen:

 

[Bioman]

Great your going close to where I am. Give a call when your down here

 

[Goldenboy]

Pounding on the Douche Bag Cameron gets old. I want a piece of that 800 Dollar ticket average. Did Rampage steal Surdis log in. LOL.

Golden Boy

 

[Cameron1]

Pounding on the Douche Bag Cameron gets old. I want a piece of that 800 Dollar ticket average. Did Rampage steal Surdis log in. LOL.

Golden Boy

waldork....... you should be more worried about being stupid enough to let douche bags sleep on your sofa, and what else they got there while you were sleeping than thinking your man enough to beat up on me. You inmature little punk.

 

[Goldenboy]

Homecoming King. LOL. One of the all-time funniest posts when a 55 year old starts braggin about being the Homecoming King. LMAO. Still.


Golden Boy

 

[Ron Werner]

I got thinking as I read some of these posts that seeing growth after 17yrs can take an less visible course, ie more efficient. After 17 yrs, a busn could still have one truck and about 1000 clients, but they have been weeded out through the years so now every job is very profitable. An O/O could work half as much and still make the same gross and a lot more net.
Now THAT's "growth"!

 

[Bioman]

That's exactly right Ron!

 

[Hoody]

Leave it to Mr. Vacuum to be the voice of reason.

 

[Cameron1]

Yep. works for me.

 

[hogjowl]

Steve:

Just so you'll know ... I, for one, was quite impressed that you were homecoming king in high school.

giggle ...

 

[Brian R]

Ron hit on a good point.

Just as someone gets "better" at cleaning...or more efficient..your profit margin is going to go up. Unless you have to pay that person more...but it should go up anyway.

If that person is you, you should make more and more money each year esp. if you are firing your crappy custy's and replacing them with quality ones.

Good one Mr. Ron.

 

[Wayne Miller]

Who hasn't met multi-truck operators that regret not keeping it to one or two trucks. lol Profit growth isn't necessarily proportional to business growth. It's not for everybody.

As far as package pricing, I'm not knocking it but I've never had much interest. What do you cut out to create the bottom tier? Say the carpet needs a good pre-scrubbing but the customer doesn't want to pay the extra 10%? Do you walk out counting your money, knowing it could have been better, hoping the stingy customer won't be sharing the same thoughts when a neighbor stops by to visit a day or two from now?

If you have beneficial extras to sell and you believe in them chances are, if you ask, you'll sell them.

 

[Bioman]

Wayne it's all in how you present it with the values & benifits of package purchasing. It really does work and not just in our industry.
Hey I've even adapted some of your postcards to it!
It's works.

 

[-JB-]

Do you walk out counting your money, knowing it could have been better,

No, you leave knowing you gave your custy a good value for what they paid for, they are left feeling they got the entire scope of the job they wanted done, instead of having to scale back to what they could afford because they company they chose is run by someone who thinks he's a brain surgeon.

 

[Wayne Miller]

It's a sales tool. There's nothing wrong with it. If it works, use it. Usually the middle package is the package that sells. Is that the brain surgeon's package? Do we have to NOT do something we otherwise would to create the bottom package? What's that gonna be? That's my difficulty.

I did a job for a lady on a budget last week. Really, really thick white, white, white nylon plush, three or four years old, never been cleaned, hardly dirty except for traffic areas which were filthy. Talk about contrast. If I had a three tier program she might have taken the cheapest, I might not have pre-scrubbed, the traffic lanes would no doubt still look like hell and when the next-door neighbor who referred me saw what I had done she'd likely not refer me again.

I've considered package pricing a few times but for me, anyway, selling the brain surgeons package on every job keeps it clean and simple and most folks don't object.

 

[Bioman]

Well if the carpet cleaning requires a certain package that you offer and the customer wants something different it's up to you to explain the packages were put in place because every household is different and requires different needs that's the purpose for having packages. I rarely ever have a customer debate me if I recommend a package strongly.

 

[-JB-]

Do we have to NOT do something we otherwise would to create the bottom package? What's that gonna be?

No.
Just change the "perks" that come w/the package; ie; 7, 30, 60 day spot free guarantee, or include protector on the top two only, spotter on the two not all three. Or make it a open area only type deal.

Or give them options w/in the package, ie; In my Tier 3 package...

Pick three.
1.) Soil-Blocker™ Carpet & Fabric Protector; helps prevent resoling, as well as resists spots and stains. Or substitute, 3M Scotchgard spot and stain protector for just another $0.10 per. Sq. ft.
2.) 12 month Emergency spot cleaning certificate; call it piece of mind.
3.) A bottle of fabric spot and stain remover
4.) Furniture moving

I have started doing this and I must say it's working pretty well.

Now I just need to update ALL my literature, and the web-site :shock: :shock: :shock: :roll:


Roger pointed out during his stint in the greenhorn room last week, give the a choice between you, you, and you.

I think we'd all agree that makes sense, but he also inadvertently said something waaayy more profound in my opinion,

"women LOVE having options, and making decisions"

how true is that? And Wayne you seem keenly aware of who our target market is more than most.

 

[Wayne Miller]

I can't recall the last time a woman called asking for more than one choice.... lol

Pretty much every woman I've ever worked for pretty much told me exactly what she preferred to see happen. As far as I can tell what she wanted most was someone she knew she could trust to get the job done right honestly, fairly and the first time.

Like I said, I thought about packages. I have no doubt they work. But, for us, it was easier to raise our price for the basic service -- including pre-vacuuming, pre-scrubbing, furniture moving, grooming, a free bottle of spotter, a guarantee, the peace of mind they could call with a problem and not get the cold shoulder or raked over the coals, and whatever else it took to leave them absolutely delighted -- until we hit a comfort level where we could make a living without upsells. That works, too.

Whatever works.

 

[Bioman]

I'm lost! Why would you not want to upsell. Your could be leaving a bunch of money on the table! Your in business to sell! And most of the customers don't know enough about our industry to buy add-ons. So knowing that I would rather give them options to choose what they want so they can make an informed decision instead of me being so arrogant and suggesting that my client knows more than me before I presented the packages to her. Then if thats all she wants fine. But the next time she uses me she may want something different. And it could be an upper package. That's why I don't like to assume. Because we know what asuptions make us 90% of the time.

 

[Brian R]

Packages are great for that "don't want to forget anything" tech.
Works great for car washes.

Owner/Operators that use them would do well also but they are the ones who should be talking about each product individually and explaining the benifits of each.

Either way works well but I do think the the Packages are a bit more full proof and I would imagine "guide" the customer to pay a little more.

And money is what it is all about but you don't want to piss off your customer.

If you leave and a day later they are thinking "what the hell was I thinking? The Silver package wasn't THAT much better and I spent 100 bucks more."

You might lose a customer.

If you have 3 packages or more, you had better make each package way better than the previous one.